No, My Primary Vote for Matt Schultz Did Not Elect Nick Begich

This week I wrote on Facebook that I voted for Matt Schultz in the primary, and within about an hour I had a swarm of Bill Hill supporters talking down to me, saying I had wasted my vote and somehow personally handed the seat to Nick Begich. It is a creative theory. It is also wrong on several fronts.

Let's begin with what Matt actually said, since his own words are apparently up for reinterpretation. When he suspended his campaign on July 17, he called on Democrats, independents, and all Alaskans who believe in protecting our democracy to vote for Bill Hill in "the general election this November."

This is not so subtle messaging. Schultz suspended after the withdrawal deadline had already passed, which is precisely why his name is still sitting on the August 18 primary ballot, but at no point did he ask anyone to leave that circle empty. Converting "vote Hill in November" into "vote Hill in the primary" is a strong bit of revisionist history coming from a group of people who hoped nobody kept the receipts.

The August primary is pick one - there is no ranking. The four candidates with the most votes advance and everyone else goes home. Begich was always advancing. Hill, sitting on the largest anti-Begich war chest in the field, was always advancing.

My vote could not possibly cost Hill a slot when there are four slots available and a field of long-shot candidates filling out the rest of the ballot. The vote-splitting nightmare some folks are suggesting might happen (it won't) would be a November problem, and ranked choice voting is the thing that would solve it, which is presumably why Judy Eledge and her MAGA-ilk are trying so hard to kill it...again.

I voted for a good man who ran a good campaign and then made a genuinely hard call when democratic infrastructure opted not to support a democrat.